In the office environment, systems-type furniture is extensively utilized. Such systems furniture involves series of connected upright space divider panels, and furniture components such as worktops, drawer units and the like mounted thereon. Freestanding components such as files and tables are also used in conjunction with such systems.
One of the common problems encountered in offices, whether using systems furniture or freestanding furniture, is the difficulty in maximizing the amount of storage for papers, books and the like through use of storage cabinets commonly refer to as drawer or file units, and at the same time provide optimum and efficient utilization of floor space. In particular, orienting of storage cabinets such as drawer and file units has continued to present a problem to office designers since orienting of the storage cabinets so as to provide optimum accessibility and convenience of use often conflicts with desired and optimum spacial arrangement of other furniture components. Particularly when dealing with systems furniture, wall panels are used to define workstations of predetermined area, and maximizing both the amount and accessibility of storage cabinets, without interfering with and in fact optimizing the use of adjacent worktops, has been a longstanding problem. In systems-type workstations, it is conventional to provide a small drawer unit directly under or adjacent one end of a worktop, and in many instances the drawer unit may project upwardly above the worktop so as to provide increase storage capacity. In such units, however, the drawers or storage space is generally accessible only from one side, namely the front side, and this is particularly inconvenient in situations where the depth of the cabinet exceeds its width and hence makes efficient utilization of the storage space difficult. Further, with these known arrangements, it is normally necessary to support the end of the worktop, as disposed adjacent the cabinet, either by means of its own supporting end panel or leg structure, or by attaching a support bracket to the adjacent side face of the cabinet, which in turn effects defacing of the cabinet.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved office-type storage cabinet arrangement, which cabinet overcomes or at least greatly improves upon many of the disadvantages set forth above.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved storage cabinet arrangement which involves independent upper and lower cabinets of compatible design and cross section, which cabinets vertically stack on top of one another, and the lower cabinet preferably has a height which substantially corresponds to worktop height. The lower cabinet can be provided with access through one of the side walls thereof, such as by providing drawers which open through the front or narrow side of the cabinet. In contrast, the upper cabinet can be provided with an access opening through the side or depth dimension of the cabinet so as to be accessible from and open directly over an adjacent worktop, thereby increasing accessibility and optimizing storage capability of both the upper and lower cabinets. Further, the upper and lower cabinet can be readily horizontally rotated 180.degree. relative to one another so that the upper cabinet can open either rightwardly or leftwardly relative to the lower cabinet.
In a preferred embodiment of the cabinet arrangement according to the present invention, the upper and lower cabinets preferably stack together through intermediate reveal strips which are removably mounted on the top of the lower cabinet and extend along the edges thereof. These removable reveal strips facilitate the stacking of the upper and lower cabinets by improving appearance since unsightly appearance characteristics created by dimensional variations or tolerances is eliminated. Further, when it is desired to position and in fact support an adjacent end of a worktop on the cabinet, one of the reveal strips can be removed and a worktop support bracket positioned in its place, which bracket projects sidewardly beyond the cabinet and has structure suitable for securing one end of a worktop. This bracket can be positioned in the place of the reveal strip, and anchored to the top of the lower cabinet if necessary, following which the upper cabinet can again be repositioned over the lower cabinet. The end of the worktop can be supported directly on the cabinet without requiring defacing of the exterior side of the cabinet. Further, the worktop can be attached to any side of the lower cabinet merely by removing the appropriate reveal strip.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons familiar with structures of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.